
Gass £45" 7 

Book J 



^l.t^WC^ 



THE CHARACTER 



OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

IDISOOTJK.SIE] 

^ellaeied ^/iHl SSd, 1S'Lo§, at mmuin'd. MaLL, 

JACKSONVILLE, ILL., 

BY 

REV. L. M. GLOVER, D. D., 

Pastor Ist Presbyterian Church. 



JACKSONVILLE : 

PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 



C 



<3> 



n 



THE CHARACTER 



OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



IDISCOTJI^SEl 

)eLLiiEied :fl.ftdL ^Sd, -/Sfb3, at mi^amn! L MlLL, 

JACKSONVILLE, ILL., 
BY 

REV. L. M. GLOVER, D. D., 

M 

Paator let Presbyterian Church. 



JACKSONVILLE : 

PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 

18G5. 



L."^5n 



/^' 






Jacksonville, April 24, 1865. 

Bev. L. M. aiover, B. D. ; 

Dear Sir — The undersigned, partaking of the common admira- 
tion of the very able and just manner in -which you have dehneated 
the hfe and character of the late lamented President of the United 
States, Abraham Lincoln, in yom' commemorative discourse pro- 
nounced yesterday, respectfully solicit a copy for pubhcation if con- 
sistent with yom- feeUngs on the subject. 

And. McFarland, Joshua Moore, 

James Dunlap, Robt. Hockenhull, 

Wm. M. Foster, O. D. FiTzsniMONS, 

Thomas W. Melendt, Ralph Reynolds, 

F. E. Dayton, John Looisns, 

0. H. Ten Eyck, H. K. Jones, 

J. ISTeely, a. McDonald. 



Jacksonville, May 3, 1865. 

Dr. A. McFarland,, Col. James Dunlap and others : 

Gentlemen — Yours of the 24:th ult. is before me. Thanking you 
for the kind terms m wliich you speak of my discom'se on the char- 
racter of Abraham Lincoln, I cheerfully accede to yom- request, 
and herewith commit the manuscript of said discourse to your care 
for publication. Partaking of the common grief of the people at the 
irreparable loss which has befallen us, I am, in the bonds of Christ 
and of country, Youi's, L. M. Glover. 



DISCOURSE. 



2nd. Samuel, 1 : 19: — The beauty of Israel ig slaio upon thy high places ; 
how are the mighty fallen! 

2nd. Samuel, 3 : 38 : — And the King said unto his servants, Know ye not that 
there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? 

Louis XI Y of France, b j a reign of dazzling splendor, impressed 
himself upon the imagination of his people as "the Grand Monarch," 
and was familiarly called, in his day, "Louis the Great." But 
when Massillon, the prince of the French pulpit, rose in the chm-cli 
of "Notre Dame," to pronounce his oration at the obsequies of that 
King, the first words he uttered were these, "God alone is great," 
at Avhich the whole vast assembly spontaneously and reverently rose 
to their feet as if thriUed and awed by that simple, but impressive, 
announcement. That involuntary act of the congregation was less 
a tribute to the commanding power of the speaker than to the elo- 
quence of the occasion and the sublime authority of truth. 

Greatness is relative. In respect to God every created being is 
small — exceedingly diminutive. The finite can sustain no proper 
comparison with the Infinite. Hence Moses said, "Ascribe ye 
greatness unto om* God." His is the true, the absolute greatness. 
What is any man, however exalted in the gradations of earth and 
time, in contrast with Him? When set in the relation they sustain 
to that uncaused and eternal being what are the princes, the poten- 
tates, the intellectual giants who figure on this narrow scene of 
things; what an Alexander, a Csesar, a Newton or an Edwards? 
Only as sparks to the glowing fires which warm the universe; only 
as struggling rays to the central orb which floods that universe 
with light. When such comparisons are drawn, how little the crca- 
tm-e called man appears, even the greatest man, the noblest of his 
race; for, in this view, the most exalted and the most abject stand 
well nigh upon the same level, since nothing, which in its mcjisurc 



is limited, can approacli that which is absokite or unlimited. In- 
deed, all men are so far equal that they are subject to like passions, 
iniu-mities, distempers, down-castings and fatal issues both of con- 
duct and of Kfe. They are alike crushed before the moth. Acci- 
dent, disaster, sickness, death, these fall indiscrhninately upon the 
children of Adam's race. "Man, at his best estate, is altogether 
vanity." The prmce hath no certain exemption from evil to which 
the peasant is not equally entitled. In the grave, all human dust 
mingles ; the humblest and most unknown lying down in the last 
sleep with kings and conquerors, the noble and honored of earth ; 
for a solemn voice crieth, " All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness 
thereof is as the flower of the field ; the grass withereth, the flower 
fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it, surely the 
people is grass." Well, then, did the mighty preacher, abeady re- 
ferred to, as the splendors of a throne lay shrunk and fading in the 
cofiin before him, exclaim, " God alone is great," an utterance to 
which I would fain give an echo to-day in view of an event no less 
impressive, and far more afflicting than that which called forth the 
remark at first. 

Human greatness is only seen and appreciated when withdrawn 
from these high contrasts, and reckoned by the common ideas which 
rule the subject among men in then* relations one to another. Some 
persons rise high above then- fellows in natural gifts, in acquirements, 
in wealth, in social position, in rank, and in the various resources of 
influence and of honor. There is some, perhaps much, true great- 
ness in the world, and yet there is more passing under the name that 
is factitious, essentially accidental and without reality. Such is usu- 
ally the distinction which bnth creates, which large inheritances 
give rise to, and which, in so many instances, grows out of mere fa- 
voring ch-ciunstances. Thus some men come to station and power 
rather by what seems chance or a fortuitous combination of events 
than by the exertion of those commanding qualities by which me- 
diocrity is overreached and the rewards of rarest excellence are won; 
And yet the general fact remains, that substantial greatness is not 
the outgrowth of accident in any case; that it is never a prize care- 
lessly and blindly di-awn out as in a lottery, but universally is the 
result of a developing and compacting of noble qualities, through 
the regular operation of those laws by which an unseen but vigilant 



and ever-working Providcnee cultures particular men for particular 
destinies of responsibility, work, and glory. 

And, I doubt not, tliis is the light in which history, when it shall 
be impartially written in a subsequent age, will place the name and 
character of Abraham Lincoln, late Chief Magistrate of the United 
States, and whose untimely and tragic end has shrouded a continent 
in gloom, and will send a thrill of horror around the globe. "The 
beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places; how are the mightv 
fallen!" "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man 
fallen this day in Israel ?" 

The estimate of the lamented President, which is to be presented 
in this discom'se, shall be both carefid and candid ; unbiased bv 
partisan dislike on the one hand, and by the partiaHties of personal 
or political friendship on the other. On an occasion hke this all 
generous minds are eager for the truth, and arc quite willing that 
any former errors of judgment or feeling should be subverted and 
rec tilled. This is not the hour for party spirit to assert itself either 
in empty laudation of the departed, or in a poorly concealed delight 
that he is no more. It is a time, if ever, when men should be seri- 
ous, impartial, and magnanimous; when they should deliver up 
then* minds to truth, to the culture of a wholesome grief, and to com- 
mon expressions of horror at the enormity of that crime which has 
brought a nation down to the dust in the very moment of its unre- 
strained joy at the prospect of speedy restoration and peace. 

In regard to Abraham Lincoln, I think it no venture to say that 
he was not a common man, or to add to this, that he was a truly 
great man. Regarded officially, as to the trust he held, the authori- 
t}' he wielded, and the honor he enjoyed, it may safely be affirmed 
that none of earth's potentates surpassed him; he stood at the very 
apex of human ambition and hope, both as relates to earthly good 
actually attained and an earthly immortality virtually secured. — 
That there was sometliing apparently adventitious in the sudden- 
ness of his rise from a humble sphere to the most exalted station has 
struck us all, and that a fortunate concurrence of circumstances had 
more to do with this than any foreseen talent, genius, or qualitica- 
tion for statesmanship, is what every one is ready to admit ; and yet 
none will deny that the pressure of responsibility and the jirocess of 



trial developed in liim an unexpected capacity, and brouglit to view 
that solid substratum of character on wliich trae greatness is built. 
The intellectual qualities of Mr. Lincoln were well defined. They 
were stroyig and solid. Like the granite rock, his mind was some- 
what rough, but it was massive. It had never been subjected to 
any very systematic culture, and hence it wanted the polish and 
beauty of which it was in a high degree susceptible. The Univer- 
sity did nothing for it, and it remained to the last essentially a piece 
of nature's work on which the hand of art had not expended its skill. 
In the workings of that mind we discern many elements of power. 
It was not only strong, but lively and quick ; in analysis, clear; in 
reasoning, cogent ; in humor sparkling. It resembled the other works 
of nature in variety and exuberance, combining diversity in unity. 
One who cast his eye over it saw no dead level there, but pleasing 
alternations of hill and vale, waterfall and quiet stream, rock and 
flower. We cannot speak of it as profound; we cannot attribute 
to it genius; strong common sense was its predominating quality. 
Mr. Lincoln looked at things pretty much as they are. He took the 
world as it is. He was bewildered by no philosophies. He gave 
himself up to no hair-splitting casuistry. He followed off no "ignis 
fatuus" of speculation. His mind moved about among realities. 
What of truth he saw, he saw directly, as it were intuitively; hence 
his first view of a matter involving questions of propriety, prudence, 
and right was quite likely to be as sound as that to which others 
arrive only by a lengthened consideration. This quick and pene- 
trating good sense is ever an element of greatness. It went far, in 
the case before us, towards supplying deficiencies of culture and 
learning. A talent so discerning and practical is more useful than 
any other, and it is vain to deny that it must and will have power. 
With the lamented President it was great power. 

He also possessed that soundness of judgment with which wisdom 
is associated. The man who has exalted talents and little pru- 
dence, is like a well built vessel set afloat without sails or rudder; 
or he is like a meteor which blazes for an instant and then goes out 
in darkness. A person so constituted does not win confidence read- 
ily ; people are slow in entrusting important interests to his care ; 
they speak of him as imreliable, unsafe. But gjod judgment as 
evinced in a practical prudence wins favor ; it is more mighty than 



genius, learning, or eloquence; it gains ascendancy over men's 
minds when these fail to do so. This quality Avas prominent in him 
we mourn. Though a man of warm impulses, ho had these under 
a masterly control ; hence he did not yield to momentary clulli- 
tions of feeling, or under the pressure of excitement give way to 
rashness of speech or of conduct. Through the obscurities which 
prejudice and passion throw over a matter, his calm eye penetrated 
to the light. When the conflict of extremes raged about him he 
had more than common of that wisdom which discerns the srolden 
mean and steadily makes towards it. This quick perception of 
what is proper and best I think was quite characteristic of him. 
Hence the general prudence of his counsels, and his own unusual 
self-possession in the midst of perplexities and dangers. Had he 
been less calm and judicious he would have been less a man for the 
time. His rare good sense was a prime quality for the hour, concil- 
iating confidence, and inspiring in the breasts of the people those 
sentiments of good will and approbation without which no ruler 
could bear up manfully or go forward steadily in the midst of such 
difhculties, and under such a burden of care and trouble. The na- 
tion believed his judgment sound and therefore implicitly trusted 
him. This shows that true power lies in those qualities which are 
least brilliant, and which are commonly thought to give the smal- 
lest promise of eminence ; qualities which, when furnished with an 
opportunity and called into exercise, as they were in his case, con- 
fer greatness upon character which the eye of the historian is sure 
to discern and his pen to record. 

Another characteristic of the man was simplicity. Tiiey whom 
circumstances rather than merit elevate to high positions often be- 
come ostentatious, and exhibit towards their inferiors a haughtiness 
which ofl'ends and repels. This disposition is the more disagreea- 
ble and unpardonable in those who have risen from humble fortune 
to lofty estate, and in the pride of their elevation quite forget the 
day of small things, ignore, so far as possible, their origin and turn 
their backs upon the associates and friends of other years. Mr. 
Lincoln was eminently simple in his tastes, manners, and habits. 
He was in no respect urbane or courtly. In dress and address he 
was plain and unadorned. He took on no airs. He looked down 
contemptuously upon no man, but ever put himself on terms of fa- 



8 

miliarity with all who approached him in a proper manner. Nor 
did the dignities to which he attained dazzle or bewilder him so but 
that he could recognize still the acquaintances of former times, 
and meet any man, however humble, face to face on the common 
terms of an equal humanity. He was, to the last, th e same unas- 
suming and simple minded man; true to his former history; true 
to early sympathies and friendships ; true, perfectly true to the 
bent of his own genial nature. Such simplicity is a condition of 
real greatness, nay an essential element in it. False greatness is 
starched and showy, lofty and assuming, but actual greatness is in- 
versely to such dispositions. A man is usually small in proportion 
as he fancies himself large, and struts, and puts on consequential 
airs, and demands respect. John Milton, Isaac Newton, and 
George Washington were simple and guileless as childhood itself; 
so was Abraham Lincoln, and true excellence, higli worth and real 
greatness are ever so characterized. 

Let me remark further that all the natural instincts of Mr. Lin- 
coln's mind and heart lay in the same general direction as the qual- 
ities already named. 

Among these was his sense of right. This seems to have been 
inborn, and it exhibited itself as a determining force in his charac- 
ter and life. He had a strong natural conscience, an inatc sense 
of rectitude which led him to make a broad distinction between good 
and bad principles, and between right and wrong conduct. These 
are things which political men have been too much in the habit of 
confounding, and hence the moral blindness and infatuation which 
we have too often had occasion to complain of and to mourn over 
in the high places of the land, as evinced in the practical adoption 
of the maxim which is as much apart from real patriotism as it is 
from true religion, ''Our country right or wrong," and as evinced 
further in the disposition and tendency to merge the idea of right 
into the idea of legality, thus exalting the legislation of men into 
equality with the legislation of God. Whatever weaknesses Mr. 
Lincoln had, and whatever errors he committed as a politician and 
a statesman, they did not lie in that direction. I am not now at- 
tributing to him the cultivated heart of piety ; I speak here of the 
promptings of nature in him, that they were unmistakably and pow- 
erfully in favor of what is good and right. Hence, when a matter 



9 

involving any principle of rectitude was committed to his judgment, 
there was always a strong presumption amounting to certainty that 
his mind would gravitate towards a just vicAv of it — that he would 
give his ultimate preference and preponderating choice to tliat side 
of the subject on which the moral considerations clustered. It can- 
not be doubted that he was ambitious to please, and that he was 
politic in the choice of means to secure popularity, but it is also 
clear that he was disposed rather to strive for the favor of the good 
than for the favor of the bad, that on all accounts he preferred the 
approbation and applause of the sober minded and right hearted 
portion of his fellow men. With such an instinctive tendency it 
may with propriety be said of him that " even his failings leaned to 
virtue's side." 

Closely associated with that sense of right, was a quick intuition 
and love of justice. Having such inborn convictions of rectitude, 
he would be Avanting in sympathy with wrong in the relations of 
man to man. All injustice Avould naturally be abhorrent and a grief 
to him. He would instinctivly take the part of the injured against 
his injurer. The oppressions practiced by the rich upon the poor 
would incite in such a breast the sentiment of indignation. The 
law's delay to vindicate the wronged, the quibbles of advocates de- 
signed to darken counsel and to hinder the vindication of truth 
would create a burning impatience in a mind so constituted. With 
the struggles and sorrows of the bondman a spirit so alive to jus- 
tice would readily bear a part. Mr. Lincoln carried in him such a 
heart, and it gave quality to his treatment of men in every private 
and social relation. Respecting the rights of all, he sought to do 
justly with all. This devotion to rectitude ruled his practice as a 
lawyer and a politician. It also entered into his statesmanship when 
called to execute the highest trusts in the gift of the nation. We 
see in his public conduct no letting down of principle for the sake of 
advantage; no compromise between the convictions of his under- 
standing and that desire too natural to man to conciliate the favor 
of those who do wrong. 

At the same time he was eminently characterized by kind and 
lenient dispositions. The justice, of which he had so keen a sense, 
was not that severe and unbending attribute which is not assuaged 
by mercy or softened by compassion. There was nothing fierce Or 



10 

savage in his nature. No element of cruelty entered into bis spirit. 
He was morally incapable of the tyranny which rebels, who were 
conscious of having forfeited his clemency, were, of course, ready 
to charge him with, and of which the murderer, in the moment of 
his crime, proclaimed himself avenged. Abraham Lincoln a ty- 
rant ! Abraham Lincoln a Nero, a Caligula, a Charles IX, a Henry 
VIII ! Impartial history will make no such record of him. Rather 
will it associate him with the most humane and beneficent of rulers, 
with Augustus, with Marcus Aurelius, with William III, and with 
Washington. His temper was not caustic and biting, but mild and 
amiable. The sarcasm which goes scathing through a man's soul 
is not ascribed to him, but rather a genial humor which sends sun- 
shine and good cheer through all the avenues of feeling. His kind 
heartedness and clemency were proverbial. The law of kindness 
was in his mouth. He opened his lips to gratify and instruct, not 
to inflict a wound or to produce pain in any. He was a friend of 
the poor. He commiserated the down trodden and injured. He 
had no malignity towards any, even his bitterest enemies, but char- 
ity towards all. He loved man as man irrespective of color, con- 
dition, or circumstances. He was a sincere philanthropist, a friend 
of his race — of all races of human beings — but of the colored man 
especially, because more cast down than others and needing more 
sympathy and help to enable him to rise. 

These moral instincts of our late President — his sense of right, 
of justice, and humanity were elements of real greatness. It is of 
such materials that the "column of true majesty in man" is reared. 
Intellect, learning, eloquence alone do not carry up the shaft. 
Power is not its base; genius is not its apex. Without high moral 
qualities it cannot rise in strength and beauty. These alone give 
consistency and weight to character. Without them, a man of 
larger gifts in all other respects would not make an Abraham Lin- 
coln. Without them, he himself would have been diminutive and 
obscure. It was confidence in his character that carried him up, 
once and again, to the dazzling heights of power. In this their 
choice, the instincts of the people were not at fault. What they 
wanted in a President, they believed was realized in him, viz: ca- 
pacity and Jioncsty. They did not fear for his statesmanship when 
they saw that his heart was right. They were ready to take him 



11 

on trust as to all matters of pul>lic policy when convinced that lie 
was a true man. They had little apprehension that he could wreck 
the Ship of State while such moral cpialities -with vigilant eyes were 
at the helm — that the Union could tall to i)ieces when such a girdle 
of virtues was lashed about it. 

If it be said that it was the Presidency which made Mr. Lincoln 
great, it may be admitted that this was a condition of his greatness, 
the essential means of its full development. But mark, it is not 
every man that even the Presidency would make great. It has al- 
ready failed to make some great who enjoyed its emolmnents and 
honors. Elevation to that exalted place will not impart the elements 
of greatness to him who did not ])ossess them before. Mr. I^incoln 
carried up to the nation's capitol the essential materials of all he af- 
terwards became; and those materials, when cast into the fiery cru- 
cible of responsibility and trial, were molten into the shape and forms 
of majesty that now present themselves to view while we contem- 
plate him as one of the noblest of men, and the most eminent ruler 
of his time. 

Many persons, in the out])urst of their partiality, speak of Abra- 
ham Lincoln as the second Washington, and the second father of his 
country. Now, to place any man in such proximity to tliat revered 
personage who, by connnon consent, is reckoned the greatest of 
earth's great ones, may appear quite presumptuous; the similarity 
and correspondence must be very striking to justify or give perti- 
nence to any such comparison. Upon a careful analysis, however, 
of these two very illustrious characters I must candidly confess that 
there appears to me to be not a little in cunnnon between them. 
"Both hved in stormy times ; both passed througli a revolution ; botli 
were manifestly born of and for the most fearful exigencies ; both 
were men of rare good sense, of uncommon prudence, and of right 
moral sympathies; both, in their way, exhibited the lofty traits of 
courage, fortitude, ])atience, and magnanimity. General Washing- 
ton, however, united in himself the military and civic virtues. Tlie 
latter only can be claimed for Mr. Lincoln. It will not do, there- 
fore, to press the comparison, though it may so touch at various 
points as to admit of its being drawn in general terms; at the same 
time it must be borne in mind that these men had qualities pecu- 
liar to themselves; also, that they lived at dilfercnt eras, and acted 



12 

in the midst of emergencies somewhat similar, Indeed, and yet, fur 
the most part, entirely unlike. If it is events Avliich, in the eye of 
history, give character to an administration then none can be more ] 
signahzed in the future records of this country than the one which ] 
has just now so tragically closed. ISTone is so crowded with occur- 
rences of profound and lasting interest; none so stained with blood 
and yet none so marked with promise. Indeed, if it shall not be re- 
garded as the most illustrious of all up to this date, it can only be be- 
cause it was not the first in order of time. And I have no doubt 
that the judgment of posterity will be that George Wasliington was 
the instrmnent under God of founding this glorious RepubKc, and 
that Abraham Lmcoln was the instrument under God of saving it. 
Where the greater honor lies it were difficult to tell. 

Such in brief is the estimate I form of the character and services 
of the man at whose tragic end a nation is sunk in grief. I ha^-e 
aimed only at a delineation of what lie ivas ; what he did has passed 
before all eyes and is perfectly familiar. 

He is no more ! He slumbers with the mighty dead. His work 
is done and the measure of his fame is full. In an unsuspecting 
moment he fell by the hand of an assassin, a cowardly and fiendish 
assassin for whose foul crime the vocabularies of human language 
furnish no significant word. Manslaughter, assassination, murder, 
how tame even these words seem, and how inadequate to express 
the awful enormity as our souls feel it. These may tell the story of 
the outward act, but after all they leave us grasping after some form 
of thought capable of indicating the utter badness — the infinite ma. 
lignity of the plot and of its execution. But the deed shall not go 
unpmiished, for it is written " Vengeance is mine, saitli the Lord, I 
will repay." Again it is written " There is no darkness nor shadow 
of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." And 
it is written further, " He that fleeth of them'shfll not liee away, and 
he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered ; thi)ugh they dig 
into Hell, thence shall mine hand take them ; though they clind) up 
to Heaven tlienco will I bring them down ; and though they hide 
themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out 
thence ; and tliough they hide from my sight in the bottom of the 
Bea, thence will I command the serpent and he shall bite them ; and 
though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I 



13 

command the sword and it shall slay them ; and I will set mine eyes 
upon them for evil and not for good." The cnrse of the Almighty 
will rest on the perpetrator of this crime, as it rested on Cain, and 
even if he is not brought to condign punishment, as the probability 
is he will be sooner or later, * yet he will feel that his punishment 
is greater than he can bear, for he will be a vagabond and a wan- 
derer in the earth, ever fleeing and yet never escaping from the 
shadow of his foul deed ; remorse, his accuser, followmg hard upon 
his footsteps as the unappeased avenger of blood. 

Abraham Lincoln is dead. " The beauty of Israel is slain upon I 
thy high places. How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, 
pubhsh it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the 
Phihstines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triiunph. 
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew neither let there be 
i-ain upon you nor fields of offerings; for there the shield of the 
mighty is vilely cast away as though he had not been anointed with 
oil." And so it is that " One sinner destroyeth much good." The 
maddened brute, without understanding, may gore with his horn 
the proudest of human flesh. The mean man, the hardened wretch 
who has no character to save and is morally incapable of any good, 
may yet do boundless mischief; he can strike down the righteous, 
he can vilely cast away the shield of the mighty; by a single act, in 
a single moment he can cast down the heart of a jubilant people and 
overspread a great nation with gloom. So fell our Saul as if he had 
not been chosen of God and anointed with oil. 

How great the change which has come upon om' dead President ! 
How sudden and how vast the transition ! He has passed from time 
to eternity, from the shifting and changeable to the permanent and 
enduring. His offices and honors he has laid aside. His ear is now 
forever deaf to the applause of his countrymen, and will not listen 
to the strains of panegyric which posterity waits to accord him. 
And may we not trust that his spirit is where both his name and 
fame are, among the mighty and the wortliy dead ? A general con- 
viction is that he was ready for this great change, ready in the only 
way by which readiness can be secured. Oppressed by his respon- 

"On the 27th of April, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, was captured, and 
killed in beinnr captured, near Port Royal, Va., thus meeting his doom in less than 
two weeks from the date of his crime. 



14 

sibilities, weighed down by private grief and by public calamities, 
often at his wit's end to know what to say and what to do, it would 
be marvelous indeed had he not felt constrained to lay hold on God 
for wisdom, direction and aid, nay, if he Uad not come to the cross 
of Jesus, as a stricken sinner, for comfort and hope. But it would 
be still more marvelous if this man, in whose behalf a whole nation 
was in a ceaseless agony of prayer, had not been inclined to rule in 
righteousness and even to yield himself up a willing captive and ser- 
vant to Christ. If reports are true, President Lincoln not only im- 
itated Solomon in the search for true wisdom where alone it can be 
found, but David also and other pious princes in the exercise of faith, 
and the cultivation of the temper and the habit of devotion. Al- 
lowing it to have been so, then the change which has come upon 
him is as blessed as it is great ; the aching head is at rest ; the 
throbbing heart is calm and peaceful; the burden of a nation's wel- 
fare no longer oppresses tlie anxious mind, and the unfettered spirit 
has risen on jubilant pinions to the home of the good and the true. 
If it were so, then the honors of a Chief Magistrate on earth are 
only laid aside for those of an eternal royalty and kingship with 
Christ and the Father; the fading glory of this world being only 
exchanged for the brighter and more enduring glory of Heaven. 
If it is so, then write, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
labors and their works do follow them." 

How are we to understand the event which has occasioned such 
universal sorrow, and what lesson of practical good may be derived 
from it? Kegarded in the light of a divine judgment it must have 
some designed relation to the sins of the people, and yet to their 
highest welfare likewise; that relation may be general or it may 
be special ; it may be prospective or it may be retrospective ; it 
may be a punishment or it may be a chastening. I confess myself 
incapable of reading the lesson at present. I know not what the 
Great Ruler of the Univerpf means by it. " IIow unsearchable 
are his judgments and his ways past finding out! " And is it not 
presumptuous in any man to stand forth at once with his divining 
rod and declare, as with certainty, the interpretation of the thing ? 
Different persons will of course view it from their own standpoint 
and through the medium of their own peculiar opinions, prejudices 



and passions./ Some will say it for this, and some for that. One 
will assert that it is the last tremendous judgment upon slavery 
and complicity with it; another that it is a rebuke in advance of 
Presidential clemency towards the rebellious; a third that it is an 
interposition to prevent any compromise of the rights and welfare 
of the colored race ; a fourth that it is a providential removal of the 
main obstacle to the pacification of the country, the speedy rein- 
stalling of the Union and the Constitution over the whole land, I 
am amazed at the boldness and confidence with which such views 
are actually put forth. We might almost fancy that the old proph- 
ets were risen from the dead when we hear persons speak on 
the subject in such a spirit of solemn earnestness and authority 
as if they held relations of immediate intercourse with Heavenf . 
and knew by a direct inspiration the will and decrees of the 
Almighty. As to myself, I must wait for further light before 
accepting- their uterances. At present I am jealous of all human 
suggestions on the subject, especially of any which, designedly or 
undesignedly, by friend or foe, reflect upon the lamented President 
and tarnish the brightness of his fair and well earned fame as a 
wise ruler, a friend of the lowly, and a servant of the human race. 
Let us be content to wait and pray until all the truth shall burst 
upon us, for 

** God is his own interpreter, 
And He will make it plain.'' 



\\ 



At the same time, I would humbly suggest that every judgment is 
a call to personal humiliation and penitence before God. And I 
would add that whatever the main and ultimate design of this afilic- 
tive event may be, we can hardly fail to observe in it a solemn re- 
buke of national vanity, and a divine correction of that tendency 
too common among the dwellers on earth to put undue confidence 
in man, in princes, and munitions of war, and especially that ten- 
dency to hero-worship and the unmeasured adulation of the great, 
which the infinite Ruler can only regard with an intense and holy 
jealousy as so much contempt of his supreme authority and of his 
all-controlling agency in the affairs of men and nations. What- 
ever else we fail, through ignorance, to discern in this providence, 
this lesson comes clearly and impressively out of it, that "God 



16 

alone is great,'' and that praise as well as power belongeth exclus- 
ively unto Him. 

" How are the mighty fallen !" But the lesson of the hour is not 
one of despair. The nation has not fallen with its prostrate Chief. 
The Constitution has not fallen with its chosen defender. The laws 
have not fallen with him who executed them in the highest magis- 
tracy of the land. The Union has not fallen with him who so dili- 
gently sought to throw around it the strong bands of national su- 
premacy. The cause of humanity has not fallen with its mighty 
standard bearer. The death of the President has invaded and 
changed nothing that is fundamental in our civil structure. The 
ancient buttresses of the Government stand firm. No strife for the 
succession has arisen in consequence of these events. The supreme 
authority has already passed quietly and without question into 
other hands according to the fixed order of the Constitution. The 
Cabinet is entire. The status of the army and navy is unchanged. 
The prospect of victory and of peace is as near at hand, and the 
beneficent work of emancipation is as likely to go forward as it was 
before. Society is not unhinged, order is not subverted, anarchy 
is not inaugurated. The entire machinery of law and of authority 
moves smoothly and powerfully on. Doubtless the assassin thought 
to stun the nation, to paralyze it, to cast it down in the moment of 
its exultation; perhaps he dreamed that the life of the Republic 
would flow out with the blood of its representative, his distinguish- 
ed victim. If so, it was but a dream. The Republic stands and 
will stand. Its existence has no absolute dependence upon any one 
man. To millions it seemed that President Lincoln was indis]jon- 
sable to the nation, and the first rush of feeling at the news of his 
death was that all was lost. But all is not lost. Nothing that i. 
vital to a great people lies within the power of an assassin. He 
may destroy the representativa man, but the principles represented, 
if good and true, remain and flourish still. The mighty fall, but 
justice, truth and freedom fall not with them. These are imperish- 
able. Though often cast down in the persons of their defenders, 
they yet rise again in the persons of other defenders and pursue 
their march towards universal supremacy. There is an ever work- 
ing, eternal providence that watches over the interests which wick- 
ed men would thwa ■ , and that gives vitality to the righteous cause. 



17 

So that no sincere and humble effort of good men fails or is fruit- 
less. Whatever was undertaken by President Lincoln, that was 
right in itself, is sure to be achieved, though he is gone. The con- 
stitution and government will be vindicated and established, the 
Union will bo restored, the liberties handed down from our fathers 
will be maintained and transmitted to those who are comiuor after 
us, and freedom will become universal throughout the land. Slave- 
ry, the occasion of so many of our public troubles and of our private 
griefs will, at no distant day, come to an end. Indeed it may be 
said to have virtually ceased already. It is so, so far as the declar- 
ed purpose of the people and of the government is concerned. Mr. 
Lincoln decreed its destruction — but the Almighty had decreed it 
before him — and it is sure to bo accomplished. The human instru- 
ment has perished, but the divine purpose will go on. The hand of 
the assassin cannot arrest the march of events, or turn back the pur- 
poses which rule the univei'se, and through the long years and ages 
of time, by means often mysterious, sometimes awful, move on the 
car of improvement and work out the best welfare of man. Indeed, 
truth seems to become more vital and commanding by opposition. 
Stricken to the ground it rises again with renewed vigor and force 
Blood pom-ed out in its defence does but enrich its roots in prepara- 
tion for a new and more bountiful harvest of good. Whatever just 
principles President Lincoln sought to advance while alive are more 
upspringing and forceful now that he is dead. The grave hallows 
them, and the poor dumb mouth on which the heavy clod rests will 
continue to speak in their behalf more eloquently and effectively 
than, the living voice ever did or coidd, and hence it will prove, as 
' in numberless other instances, so in this, that " though the work- 
'■.tjn die the work goes on." 

The fame of the departed, too, is secure. The assassin may have 
thought to arrest that fame in mid career, to mutilate by separating 
it from its objects. It was in vain. He applied himself to his task 
too late. The work on which the glory of his victim would rest was 
ah-eady accomplished. The great tacts out of which the web of his 
jifo story would be wrought had already transpired. The record 
was already made up. Had he perished four years earlier, that 
record would have been short and comparatively unimportant. A 
few lines then would have sufficed for all that was noteworthy m j 




' 



-D 4. -^no fTiPTi SO rapidly have events been generated, 

"^ ""T ifelfr eoLcl le '.tri and soul, that volumes alone 
events o! wl el he seemed ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ 

can confcun t'^^™; JJf"^, '^^ „;„ht have reached a more round- 
to which he was «f ^' ^' ,^™ „2,=,i fo„,,,d ,ritu pleasing expee- 

cdfuhness; and he <«;f «.' '"°^ „„;t,d ,„a tranquilized and 

tations to the tune when, Ins country x 

all manner of good d-cend,ng Jon >t a» th e. 1 -^^^ ^^ 

labors, laying as.de the ««>-«^ »* °ffi;;;.^^ ';=, .^j,;,, ,eapi„g the 

incr in a o-lorions^lialo about bis name. _ 

no- elsewhere as wdl as about our own dwe hng. ^he beauties o, 
^fv of ocean and of earth are for man, and all are entitled to the 
tri—; of pleasure which they are adapted to e^^^^^^ 

,nore, then, have we a common inhentanee '" " g'™^^ 
lustre and a true attractiveness to any hmnan cha.actei. All ooc , 
g;eat, and useful n.en belong to their country and theT ^^J^ 
Barnes and fame are in no private keepmg. The.r ~ "P^^^^^ 
not vested in a party or a elan. None can W-P-te «.". h t 
or their <dory in a sense that all others may not do the same. L M 
the snn Snd moon and stars, they shine for all mankmd and they 
Rhine for all ages. ., . -, 

That this man had weaknesses, had faulta, and tl.at he — ^^^ 
errors none can doubt, and no one was more ready to a^nowled e 
Tthau himself, ^onre regrets hang over tl. memor^^^^^^^^^^^ 
and the best, for " to err is human,' and, as tue oci p 



19 

" Great men are not always wise." His failings whatever they may 
have been, were such as are common to men, and such as are inci- 
dental to high station. But even of these he plainly had far less 
than we have been accustomed to see in public men. He had no 
degradmg habits, he practiced no low vices. He was not fond of am- 
bitious displays; he was not given to strong drink ; his lips were not 
addicted to profanity. Nor am I aware that he had acquired any 
special fondness for dramatic representations, or that he had formed 
the habit of attending upon the anuisements of the stage. I think 
it my duty, however, to say that in common with many others, I 
have a regret that, if he was to fall by the hand of an assassin, the 
event had not occurred elsewhere, in the street, in the council cham- 
ber, in the national mansion, or even in the sanctuary of God. And 
yet my regret does not take the form of expression adopted by some, 
that being in the theatre he was out of God's jurisdiction and for- 
feited the divine protection, but that . regret is this, that besides the 
general impropriety of the indulgence for one whose example gives 
law, and especially while public affairs were so troubled, the fact 
should have been made by " wicked hands" to serve as the link of 
destiny, and seized upon as the fatal condition of such universal 
down-casting and grief And yet in all this painful matter there 
is nothing which a gracious God cannot or which a generous people 
will not forgive, nothing but the atrocious crime of him of whom it 
mio;ht be said as of another whose name is never mentioned but with 
horror, " It had been good for that man if he had never been born," 
wldle, as relates to the victim himself, the cloud which overshadows 
his last hour is thin and transient, but the glory behind will be re- 
flulgent and pei-petual. 

And now I have to commend the character of Abraham Lincoln 
to the study of all, especially of young men, whose aspirings are 
naturally so ambitious and hopeful, but who in their ignorance and 
haste are liable to mistake the true conditions of lionorable and suc- 
cessful effort. It is not the accident of birth, or wealth, or social po- 
sition, or official place that gives true and lasting eminence. With- 
out an underlying vu-tue all these are baseless and vain. Good 
sense, eimplicity, sincerity, honesty, love of right, of justice and of hu- 
manity, above aU the fear of God, these were the undergirdings of 
character in him we mourn, these the conspiring forces which made 



20 

him truly great. Therefore, our youth of promise and worthy long- 
ings, who would place themselves in the way of honorable distinc- 
tion, should get wisdom and understanding, should " buy the truth 
and sell it not," should form right purposes and steadily pursue 
them, should live for the attainment of useful ends alone, agreeable 
to the poet's advice, 

" Honor and shanie from no condition rise; 
Act well your part ; there all the honor lies." 

And now let us all prove ourselves worthy of the time and the 
emergency. The lesson of the hour is one of hushed solemnity; one 
of penetrating personal inspection and inquiry. "In the day of ad- 
versity, consider." Calmness aod silence become us in the presence 
of such events. Impatience, excitement, and passion ill befit a peo- 
ple cu'cumstanced as we are. Bitterness, wrath, clamor, evil speak- 
ing, revilings, and all w^ords of virtuperation are unsuited to our pres- 
ent condition. These, when indulged, are elements of discord and 
anarchy. Let those who would suitably honor the memory of Abra- 
ham Lmcoln, imitate and seek to diffuse the spirit which was emi- 
nently characteristic of him. Let them be kind and courteous, 
charitable and tolerant ; let them chasten down the asperities which 
may burn in the heart or rise to the lips ; let them be patient, for. 
bearing, magnanimous ; let them illustrate the virtues they admire 
in him they fondly call the father of his country. Following so 
goodly an example will secure to us and to our children greater 
blessings than any that are achieved by arts or arms, Avill give us 
peace, union, strength, liberty, religion — all that can make the 
present agreeable or the futur e glorious. 

Another lesson of the hour is a hopefulness based upon the reali- 
ty, the certainty, and the unfailing wisdom of divine providence. 
The heavens are not about to fall, the earth is not about to be up- 
heaved, chaos and wild disorder are not about to be launched upon 
us ; all is and all will be safe because God reigns, and because chris- 
tian people in their extremity will put their trust in him. There 
is also a rational faith in public men and in the general virtue of 
the people, which inspires the hope that all will be well. 

And finally, prayer is an important, perhaps the most important 
duty to be learned and practiced at this time and in the midst of 
these calamities, for " God is our refuge and strength, a very prcs- 



21 

ent help in trouble." It is prayer that has buoyed up the Ship of 
State through the storms of the last four years ; prayer that in- 
spired the mind of our President in the straits to which ho was of- 
ten reduced ; prayer that gave courage to the hearts and vigor to 
the hands of the brave men who have fought our battles and achieved 
our victories. Therefore let not prayer be restrained now that the 
nation's Chief has fallen, for another has taken his place who, for 
aught we know, may be equally solicitous of the same kind offices at 
the throne of grace that were cheerfully bestowed upon his lamented 
predecessor, and yet if he is not, he only needs them all the more. 
And should there be any misgivings in regard to the new Presi- 
dent's habits, principles, or policy, nothing is so likely to prove 
them needless, or to disappoint all fear as the earnest, sympathetic, 
united prayers of a great people ; such remembrance at the throne 
of mercy will at least assure him of the people's desire to confide in 
him, and will naturally produce in him the reciprocal desire to 
prove himself worthy of that confidence. Let us also pray that 
God would cause the wrath of man to praise him and restrain the 
remainder thereof, and especially that he would turn the current of 
our afflictions into channels which shall convey increasing good to 
the land and the nations. 

This discourse is now ended. I have told the story of Abraham 
Lincoln as well as I could in one brief hour. That hour is a strik- 
ing emblem of the transientness appertaining to his and every hu- 
man life. A few hasty years are passed, then comes the "last of 
earth;" a few solemn words are spoken and all is over. Since, 
therefore, life is so fleeting let us all apply ourselves diligently to 
life's most important work, that whenever, and in whatever form 
the messenger of death may come we may be ready with our record, 
and by the rich mercy of Grod in Christ ready also for an everlast- 
ing reward. 



^" 



S '12 



4 



